Callum Clench, Executive Director, International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
I work for the International Water Resources Association which was established almost 55 years ago, bringing together the people who work in water science, hydrology, hydrogeology, water engineering, and also people who work in policy like lawyers, regulators, policymakers, people who work in the public sector. We bring them together to try to find a better way of managing the resources by ensuring that the policy that is developed is based on science, but also that policy makers can tell scientists what their motivations are like “this is what we need, these are the issues that we have to deal with as this is what our voters are telling us, and what are the solutions that you can offer?” So, it’s a two-way dialogue, not just scientists telling the policymakers what to do; it has to be a two-way discussion. And we do that through a lot of different activities. We have our World Water Congress which is held every two or three years. We just had one held in Beijing last year and we had 3000 people come to that. The one before that was in Korea, the one before that was in Mexico, and the one before that was in Scotland. So, we move around the world to different locations. We are very international, we have 22 board members who are also very international, we have a gender balanced board and also a generationally balanced board with both younger and older people on it. We are a convener of people who are passionate about water resource management, we have our membership, we have our partnerships, etc. They are the experts and we support them to get their expertise through publishing, through events, through online activities, through social media, and a whole range of communication tools. I think that the role of any conference, and this one is a great example, is to bring together the stakeholders from across different disciplines. So, there are international representatives, of course, but there are have people from different sectors, different disciplines. And bringing people together like this face-to-face is an opportunity to network and to exchange ideas and the latest information and to brainstorm in a way that is very difficult to do in other formats. We do a lot of things in online format now, which is wonderful because we can communicate and exchange ideas with people in every part of the world, but there is energy and synergy that you can get in a conference like this you cannot replicate online. It is very difficult. So, I think this is wonderful, the fact that this event is held in the same year when Azerbaijan is also holding COP is wonderful because we’ve been trying so hard for many years to push the water agenda within the climate change discussions, because anything to do with climate change adaptation is fundamentally about water. It has been so difficult to get this agenda included within those discussions. So, I see it as a positive side that we will continue that will continue to elevate the discussions around water management in the context of climate change and from that I think many wonderful positive things will happen. Water covers so many things, water is everything. I mean, we were just talking about water security and climate change and I think those topics are very important. It is important that we understand what we mean when we say ‘water security’. It is about making sure that you have adequate supply over an extended period of time and that you can have the right quality of water for the right purpose, so, it is about quality and quantity, and accessibility, and affordability, governance, all of those things together. I think what’s happening in Azerbaijan right now (and I’ve learned a lot since I’ve come here) is that Azersu is evolving, it’s merging with other organizations, and so you are having this integration of water resource management, and that’s I think a very positive thing. Having worked in the public sector myself in the past, I know that government departments work in their own silos, so, bringing something important as water together under a common umbrella is going to be much more effective and I think those kinds of discussions on how you integrate how you adapt with climate change, population shifts, evolving economies, industry, all those sorts of things, that’s really important. We have to always be thinking to the future like ‘well, this is the situation now, but how is the world evolving, how is Azerbaijan evolving as a country, how is the climate evolving, how is urbanization evolving with people coming to Baku from countryside and that happens everywhere in the world. How do you adapt? How do you make sure the people who come to live in the capital and also the people who live in the countryside and grow food, how does everybody have enough water to do what they need to do and to live their lives in a healthy, safe, and comfortable way? Those are the questions asked. One of the takeaway messages from what I was saying at the first session is that at events like this involving partnerships and collaboration we need to think about legacy. It’s great to have an event, but what do you want to change because of the event? It may not just be one thing and the change may not happen immediately. It could be part of a journey that you are on as an organization or as a country, as a collaboration of people. So, there is clearly a benefit because we meet and network, but there needs to be more because if people are going to invest their money, their time and be generous with their knowledge and expertise, ultimately we all want to effect positive change. And from our perspective that’s about supporting policymakers to create policies that are impactful in that positive way and that involve as broad communities as possible from grassroots organizations to ministerial, so, we try to involve everybody at all levels. You want to involve civil societies, community leaders, you want to give a voice to underrepresented groups which in some places could be women, could be refugees or indigenous people, or people who are part of our community but don’t get to express themselves. Water impacts all of us and underrepresented groups are more severely impacted by poor water management. That’s why we try to involve as many people as we can, but we are still focusing on that messaging on the high level. Another takeaway message is how to keep this agenda moving forward and one event in itself won’t do it. It has to be something that happens over a period of time and involves collaboration of organizations. At this event, we have very senior people from within Azerbaijan, we have people from the ministry, institutes, and different organizations, and I think what is interesting is that we are all on one same page. I think we are also learning from one another. There are some interesting facts and figures from the very good speaker representing the UN Agency for Migrants and Refugees that I didn’t know. I hadn’t heard some of these numbers before. Equally, it’s equally interesting to hear what is happening on the international scale, not only in Azerbaijan but also in Turkiye or in other parts of the world. You know, you hear about FAO and the connection to food security, and the water footprint of foods, the wastage of food: you waste food – you waste water. Some of these messages we knew, some are new and hopefully they are making people in the audience reflect on “how can I within my organization effect a positive change?” Let’s keep pushing that message of “what is it we can all take away when we go to our offices?” and say “Ok, I’ve learned something at this event, so, what can we do to make the world a better place ultimately?” I attended the exhibition yesterday. It was great. It is quite technical, to be honest, it is a very engineering-focused exhibition. It was interesting to see and have some discussions about the engineering projects such as dams created as part of water security: where the river is coming from, where the river goes to, how you are talking to upstream and downstream stakeholders especially when you are building a new dam. And of course, anything that we do as a species will have an environmental impact. So, the question is what kind of impact we want to have and if there is a negative impact how can we mitigate it somehow. So, the exhibition was great and I loved the opening performance. For me visiting Azerbaijan, that was cool. I’ve found the people here in Azerbaijan to be very hospitable, helpful, very friendly, everyone smiling all the time even when you can tell they are tired and stressed. We are very honoured to be here.
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